Monday, June 8, 2009

Last Saturday night during the message, Jim asked Ben and I to share a little bit about last year's trip to Vermont. We talked about our experiences cliff-jumping into the river. My first jump was absolutely terrifying. I backed away from the edge several times and asked Jim and Ben to repeat more than once. I needed proof. The rock seemed to angle too far in front. I was so sure that I wouldn't jump far enough and would end up plastered on the rock below. All of this was complicated by my relatively poor vision. Everything was blurry. Eventually, after seeing those guys successfully land in the water enough times, I believed that I would also end up safely in the water below... and took the leap. Sure enough, a moment later, I was surfacing and laughing. What a great feeling... to take a leap and conquer fear.

This past Saturday was another one of those moments. At the Notre Dame football stadium, I had the chance to run through the tunnel to the sounds of the ND fight song and finish my first 1/2 marathon. Sports and anything athletic have always been something that I have kind of feared. I just always felt really awkward with anything sports-related so my experiences were limited pretty much to t-ball, elementary basketball camp, and some church-league softball. So just to finish this run was pretty amazing.

Tonight, another leap. Recently I noticed a posting in the mathematics department at Bethel - the school where I'm working on my MBA - for adjunct faculty. Although both of my degrees are in chemistry, I have a pretty extensive background in math. So I was pretty excited to get an email to come up for an interview. They will get back with me a week or so but just the thought seemed pretty exciting.

The last year has included several other leaps - the most amazing leap occurring in the last six months. I'm really looking forward to the leaps to come.

Jim included this verse in Saturday's message:

Romans 5:2 - And that's not all. We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand--out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

I'm so thankful for these leaps - for these throwing open of doors, these discoveries - and for God's love - a love that conquers fears.

1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.